Help-Toddler bed transition question plus a newborn in house!

[ChicStylishMom]

My son is 22 mnths old and has been refusing nap time in his crib yet he will fall asleep if I'm out running errands or in the carriage. He was always a good mapper until 3-4 months ago. I have a 16 day old newborn and really need this hour-hour 1/2 of quiet time. I put him in his crib to nap 2 days ago he screamed/cries for 40 mins before almost climbing out & falling. I had to run up 5 steps with my newborn to tell him stop so I took him out and just let him stay up. This scared me so my husband and I felt it was time to transition to the toddler bed. Last night was our first night..it took an hour for him to fall asleep. I read him books( part of our normal routine) and as he tried getting out I told him ill read another book if he gets back in. Once he was asleep I left the room and closed his door(unlocked) & put up a baby gate. I woke up at 2 am by his cries and saw him on monitor get out of bed & open his door. I reassured him I was there & to climb back in bed. He did but then came back out. Exhausted me got a pillow & blanket and layers it next to his bed he fell asleep on the floor with me. I don't want to start a bad habit as I have a newborn in a bassinet sleeping in our room. Please help with the approach of how I should do this.

[ChicStylishMom]

Bump

[anna*]

He's very young to be in a toddler bed and going through lots of changes so expect a bumpy ride! But what you are doing sounds fine. The gate up at the door is a good idea. I wouldn't sleep on his floor if you can avoid it, but just keep silently returning him to bed. Eventually the novelty of getting out will wear off. Good luck!

[creations]

I don't think 22 months is so young for a toddler bed. Our cot-bed instructions say to change it to a bed at 18 months or earlier if LO is climbing out.  I didn't transition at 18 months though as he was happy there.
I would spend as much A time as you can in the next couple of days playing in his room and encouraging him to play games where he is on and off the bed, crawling and rolling around on the bed, getting on and off (all angles/sides) etc, you could throw a soft toy on there for him to fetch back, play some rough and tumble on the bed with him things like that. The more he is exposed to the size and shape of the bed the quicker he is going to be emotionally and physically comfortable there (he will build a mental map of the bed to reduce the risk of falling out too).  If he is only there for nap and night it is going to take longer to become accustomed to it.
You could also suggest that he stay in bed and call you if he needs you rather than getting out of bed.

[Layla]

We didn't move Isabella (dd1) to a big bed until she was around 3 and we had lots and lots of issues when we did it and it was a matter of her getting used to it, which took a while  . She was coming out of the bed, waking up at night and coming to us, waking up at a silly time in the morning (4.30am).... all of which we dealt with as best as we could (silent return to bed, offer earlier bedtime). With Jasmine (dd2), I kept her in the cot until she was 4  and to be honest, the transition was a lot smoother than with Isabella and she just never came out... might have to do with their personalities and Isabella is a very spirited little girl! Jasmine was fine in her cot until then and I just didn't see the need to get her into a bed. She knew how to climb over the cot but she hardly ever did it and she knew how to climb, turn herself over and hop down but she didn't start doing that until she was way past 3.

I also put a gate by the door and Isabella would get out of her bed and fall asleep by the gate and then she started jumping over the gate so we just took it off as it defeated the purpose! I had to stay with her many many nights to get her to settle down as she was getting herself so worked up and kept coming out and we did some gradual withdrawal (sat by her bed and moved towards the door every couple of days). What also helped was to ask her to stay in her bed and tell her I would be back to check on her in x amount of time (you could start with 30 secs) and then come back and then with time increase that to say 1 min and come back again. But honestly, it took us a very long time to get to this stage (again i think because of her very spirited nature lol).

Its not uncommon for them to resist naps when there's a newborn in the house. He might have had nap troubles due to the timing of the nap or he just needs more mummy time before he goes down for a nap time?

Here are a couple of links that may help you:
The Crib to Bed Transition
Success Stories for Big Bed Transitions (please post link here)

HTH

[HenaV]

R went to a cotbed just before her 2nd birthday after a successful escape from her cot. We were worried shed try it again and hurt herself.

For the 1st week she didn't get out a d then would do so at all sorts of random times. I just waked her back, used our sleepy phrase and put her back. What ultimately seemed to do the trick re: letting her know it was morning was a gro- clock which we introduced 3wjs ago - amazing!!!

That's said we had a lot of sleep disturbances at around 22m - down to devepmental leap and teeth. So maybe that combined with the new baby is more the issue than the BBB?

Hth xx

[anna*]

So maybe that combined with the new baby is more the issue than the BBB?

Definitely agree with this

[HenaV]

Hey!

How's it going, any better?

Hena

[ChicStylishMom]

He's sleeping in his bed STTN from 8-730! Success!! Just a few rough nights but he gets it now! Thnx

[ChicStylishMom]

Ok we have a problem. We previously put DS to bed by reading a few books then we placed him in his crib & he always put himself to sleep now in his toddler bed he doesn't want us leaving until he's asleep. Even when we think he's sleeping he picks his head up to check if we are still sitting on the recliner. Sometimes it could take an hour! He was so independent before. It's been atleast 3 wks and he won't let us leave. He's been having EW and running to his door which we lock from the outside because he climbed over the gate we placed there. He screams & cries until I go open the door! I have a 1 mnth old who's room is next to his that I don't need him waking her! What can I do should I take a different approach and don't lock the door and buy a different gate? I feel maybe it's locking him in there that's getting him scared/mad???

[anna*]

I would for sure try a different gate and unlock the door. When we went through this with my son (same age, no newborn) I had to sit out of sight when he was settling at bedtime. If he could see me he would hold me hostage for hours. So I sat round the corner from the door - with the gate up - and reassured him with my voice only when he got upset.